Starcraft 2 on Mac: How to Play & M1 Benchmarks

The original Starcraft is considered by many as one of the best real-time strategy games (RTS) of all time. So when Blizzard announced a sequel, there was a lot to live up to, but amazingly enough, Starcraft 2 exceeded all expectations.

Starcraft 2 managed to capture everything that made the original Starcraft great and enhance it in almost every possible way. And then the game went free-to-play, becoming a no-brainer for any and all strategy game fans out there.  But what does it take to run one of the best strategy games for Mac? How well can your Mac run Starcraft 2? Can it run on M1 Macs?

Can you play StarCraft 2 on Mac?

You can absolutely play StarCraft 2 on your Mac, including Intel and Apple Silicon Models. Even if the system requirements don’t mention M1 or M2 Macs, our benchmarks confirm the game runs fine on Apple Silicon Macs.

It is worth noting that for a game that was released many years ago on macOS (2015), it remains a demanding game to run. This is partly due to the game’s superb graphics but also because it still runs using the old OpenGL graphics engine. If developer Feral Interactive ever decides to update this game to use the Metal API, we should see very significant improvements. More on that below.

Art	Game	Genre	64-bit?	64-bit	API	M1 Support
	Starcraft 2	Strategy	Yes		Metal	Rosetta

StarCraft 2 on Mac: Everything you need to know

As in any RTS, you spend much of your time gathering resources and building and upgrading your base and army before going out to accomplish the goal of your particular mission. One of the strong points of the original was its engaging story told in short cutscenes, and that continues in the sequel with even more detail and interactivity.

If you’ve already gotten the impression that Starcraft 2 is a pretty great game, you’d be correct. Despite some objections to Blizzard’s original pricing structure and complaints about the lack of LAN multiplayer, Starcraft 2 was a huge hit when it came out. Critics gave it an 88/100 Metascore:

And that was before Starcraft 2 became a free-to-play game, including the single-player human campaign, skirmish mode, and multiplayer modes. Strategy games such as Civilization 6 or Total War: Three Kingdoms are arguably just as good, or even better, but these are full priced games.

Echoing these feelings, Destructoid said:

Somehow, Blizzard has managed to make Starcraft 2 feel instantly familiar, while still keeping the entire game feeling fresh and new. The single-player is ridiculously fun, the multiplayer is as addictive as hell, and virtually every new mechanic Blizzard has introduced has helped to improve the game.

Assuming you haven’t already stopped reading and gone to play, read on to see what our tests revealed about the macOS version of the game.

Starcraft 2 Mac requirements

These are the game’s official Mac requirements:

⛔ Be aware that the system requirements don’t mention M1 Macs but we can confirm the game runs just fine on Apple Silicon machines.

How to play Starcraft 2 on Mac

As mentioned before, Starcraft 2 runs natively on macOS, including Intel-based Macs and M1/M2 Macs.

This means SC2 can run on macOS without requiring any third-party software. Therefore, we won’t waste your time talking about Parallels, Crossover (both excellent tools, but only useful for Windows-exclusive games…), or Streaming services.

Can you play Starcraft 2 on Mac? Benchmarks

StarCraft 2 is a game that needs to be played fast. An average or mediocre performance will break this game.

These are the Starcraft 2 M1 benchmarks we have gathered so far:

As a reminder, this is how we describe the different levels of performance:

• Below 20 FPS: Unplayable: Laggy gameplay, full of stutters and slowdowns.
• 20-30 FPS: Borderline: Can be OK in slow-paced games. Still, not optimal.
• 30-45 FPS: Playable: Acceptable for most (most gaming consoles do this).
• 45-60 FPS: Smooth: Fluid gameplay, with no perceivable stutters.
• 60+ FPS: Very Smooth: For hardcore and professional players, a luxury for most.

Into Strategy games? These are our favorites:

Game	★ Our Pick	Also Great	Best Value
	Civilization 6	Crusader Kings 3	StarCraft 2
Genre	Turn-based	Turn-based	Real-time
Release date	2016	2020	2015
Metascore	88	91	88
Our rating	★★★★☆ Full Review	★★★★☆	★★★★★ Full Review
Requirements	High	Medium	Low
Check Price	Check Price	Check Price	Free-to-play

Intel Mac benchmarks

We also performed the following tests on six Intel-based machines:

• iMac 27-Inch (5K, Late 2014): 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 16 GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9 M290X (2GB)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016): 2.0 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics 540 (1.5GB)
• Mac Mini (Late 2014): 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Intel Iris 5100 (1.5GB)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2013): 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, Intel Iris 5100 (1.5GB)
• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012): 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (1GB)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012): 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 400 (0.5GB)

Using Count It, our in-house FPS counter, we tested all machines while playing an AI Versus match for about 5 minutes using the following settings:

This is how our Intel test machines performed in Frames per Second (FPS):

As a reminder, this is how we describe the different levels of performance:

• Below 20 FPS: Unplayable: Laggy gameplay, full of stutters and slowdowns.
• 20-30 FPS: Borderline: Can be OK in slow-paced games. Still, not optimal.
• 30-45 FPS: Playable: Acceptable for most (most gaming consoles do this).
• 45-60 FPS: Smooth: Fluid gameplay, with no perceivable stutters.
• 60+ FPS: Very Smooth: For hardcore and professional players, a luxury for most.

We usually aim for 30 FPS, because 30 FPS is enough to guarantee a smooth and fluid experience.

Can my Mac run Starcraft 2?

Needless to say, a high-end Mac will be able to run this game without a sweat. Our 2014 iMac can run the game at Very Smooth 115.9 FPS. Clearly, the question isn’t, “Can my Mac run it?”, but, How high can I bump the settings while keeping a fluid experience?

On the maximum settings, the game still runs at a Very Smooth 62.9 FPS. The visual improvement going from Medium to Maximum settings is slight but remember that the biggest differences are better physics (which, alas, can only be seen during actual gameplay below):

Can you play Starcraft 2 on a MacBook Pro?

A new M1 or M2 MacBook Air or MacBook Pro can cost a lot of money, but you can be certain that all M1/M2 Macs can run this game without breaking a sweat. This can be clearly seen from our M1 benchmarks shared before.

In fact, even if you have an older Intel-based MacBook Pro, you should  be able to run this game at Medium settings. Turns out StarCraft 2 is a well-optimized game and runs at Very Smooth 70.1 FPS on a 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2016!

Download Starcraft 2 for Mac

You can download the game from Blizzard’s Battle.net store.